"Gater"

For two people that don't have a single nickname, my parents have two kids that ONLY have nicknames! My parents say that by the end of the week that I was born, I had been called dozens of nicknames by friends and family - Bodie, Bodimiester, Bodinator, Bodirama, Bodilicious, and the list goes on and on. Well, Gates is no different.

By the end of his first week of life, Gates had become "Gater" and the name has stuck. (Yes, I know gator is spelled with an "o" - but his name has an "e" so that's how we're spelling it.) Later Gater and AliGater are just two ways it's been used. He's even got alligator pj's and tshirts. My nickname for him was Lightening, but I've given up promoting that one, it just hasn't stuck. And besides, I like the name Gater, it just fits him. So I guess to wrap this post up I should say, "Later Gater!"

Blessed

Life gives us so much to be thankful for, we have so many blessings. Here are a few I wanted to highlight from the past week.

Our Health. I had my heart appointment - these days I only go every 18 months. Dr, Hougen said everything looks good and that he'll see me in another year and a half. I actually saw him last month after Gates was born. It's protocol for siblings of heart patients to get a full check up, just in case something is missed by all of the fancy equipment at the hospital. After being hooked up to all of the wires and machines, Gates got the thumbs up from Dr. Hougen too. So now both Gates and I have pictures of our hearts - pretty cool.

Our freedom. While I wasn't alive on September 11, 2001, my parents will forever share their stories of that day and how lucky we are to live in America.

Our neighbors. We had our annual block party last Saturday. More than 80 neighbors showed up and we all hung out for the evening - we live in an awesome neighborhood. I spent 98% of my time in the moonbounce. I think I sweat out all of the calories from the 7 mini cupcakes I may have consumed...but don't tell my mom.

Recently I have been hot-rodin' on my Radio Flyer tricycle. For the block party I loaded my most favorite water bottle in the trunk of my trike. During one of my planned wipeouts - I love to crash and roll off my bike in dramatic fashion - my trunk opened and my favorite water bottle rolled into the storm drain. Insert HUGE sad face here. I was crushed. Where were my parents when I REALLY needed them to dive in front of the storm drain!?! Luckily, we have awesome neighbors and one of them heard about this water bottle tragedy. He got his shovel and pried up the man hole and wa-la! There was my water bottle - genius! Our neighbors are seriously awesome.

Our family. My Nana and Pop came into town for the weekend for my brother's Catholic baby blessing. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Eduardo and my cousins joined us too. We are fortunate to have a close Jesuit friend, Father Kevin O'Brien located at Georgetown University and he performed the blessing. Kevin also gave me a baby blessing when I was just 6 weeks old.

Since I'm really into counting right now, I think I'll sit down and count my many, many blessings!

Milestones

We've reached a few milestones in our house this past week - I started preschool and Gates visited his seventh state.

In just seven weeks of life, Gates has already racked up seven states - Virginia, Maryland, Utah, New York, Vermont, New Jersey, and Delaware. I wasn't allowed to travel for my first four months of life, so he has got me beat on this one. For a guy who isn't crazy about his car seat, he did okay on our latest road trip. He slept for all but about 30 minutes - not bad for a pip squeak.

While in Vermont, we picked apples with my Aunt Kathy, raced with my cousin Bridget, and hung out with our fun family. My Aunt Karen came up from Virginia and my Uncle Nick flew in from Colorado - so it was a party...literally! We celebrated my Nana's birthday too! My cousins and I competed to see who could make the goofiest face.


Today was my first day of preschool. I picked my fast red shorts and my Forty Niner t-shirt (you know they won last night!). My teacher's name is Mrs. Brubaker. I got to meet her last Wednesday at the orientation picnic. While touring my new classroom I asked her the one question I had, "Are you a baker Mrs. Brubaker?" She laughed and said, "Actually, I love to make whoopee pies." I have no clue what those are, but I'm sure they're good.

 

The day went great. I kissed my parents goodbye and I was off. Some kids were crying and didn't want their parents to leave - I was too busy checking out the toys, books, and finding the backpack hook with my name on it. I found the name "Boden" above a hook. The teacher doesn't know that Bodie is my real name - or at least that's what I think. Here are the highlights I gave my mom,

"Mrs. Brubaker had more hair today than at the picnic."

"The gym has rules. NO going on the stage and NO crossing the red line with your car...I almost crossed the redline...almost."

"We sang the dinosaur song. I don't remember it. You say 'ROAR' at the end. That is it."

"One girl isn't nice. She took my ball. She should have had a tiny turn and then given it to me for a giant turn."

"Mom, Mrs. Brubaker read a book about mice and paint. Did you know that blue paint and blue paint make purple?"

 

The day was a success! I can't wait for day #2.





Be Our Guest!

We've been lucky to have fun guests visit us during the past week.
First our Nana and PopPop came to town followed by our friends Lisa and Josh.


We both continue to grow but sometimes it's hard to see us because we're camouflaged! Gates is one cool little brother. I have meticulously explained the difference between each (of my 100 plus!) matchbox cars. Gates stares intently at me during these tutorials so I know he's really interested. I've also showed him some of my best moves like my jump spin and karate kick. My mom said I am no longer allowed to do the jump spin OVER Gates' head (but she didn't say anything about his body!).